


16

by gillasue345



Series: SPN Prompt Drabbles [5]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Comfort, M/M, Multi, OT3, Polyamory, Purgatory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-16
Updated: 2014-03-16
Packaged: 2018-01-15 23:55:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1323997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gillasue345/pseuds/gillasue345
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>16. Write cavity inducing fluff about *this pairing* Meiloslyther: Dunno how you feel about 	Dean/Benny/Castiel, but it’s like my happy ship so.</p>
<p>*I will probably venture into angst before it becomes fluffy. I seem to be incapable of pure fluff, Sorry Meilo*</p>
<p>Dean had had it up to here with Cas and Benny’s bickering. They had been traveling towards the portal for nearly a month now and even though he thought that they had started to get along, today was a step backward.</p>
            </blockquote>





	16

**Author's Note:**

  * For [meiloslyther](https://archiveofourown.org/users/meiloslyther/gifts).



Dean had had it _up to here_ with Cas and Benny’s bickering. They had been traveling towards the portal for nearly a month now and even though he thought that they had started to get along, today was a step backward. They hadn’t stopped snapping at one another from the time Dean had awoken that morning and he was about to lose his mind.

The three of them had made camp in a small cave that looked to have once been inhabited by a nest of vampires, but now stood empty. He pondered the thought of starting a fire, before rejecting it. There wasn’t a place to vent the smoke out of the tiny cave and it was a pretty warm night anyway. Instead he munched on the berries that Castiel had found earlier that afternoon, along with a comb of fresh honey and some leftover rabbit he’d hunted down the day before.

Purgatory hadn’t been designed for a human, and therefore Dean had had a hard time adjusting to the environment, but like all things, he had adapted. He remembered his first few days here, as he’d shivered beneath a pile of leaves, the DTs hitting him hard as he hid away from every monster that seemed to sniff him out with ease. Here, Dean still had to eat, and sleep, and piss, and all the things that humans do, whereas a monster’s instincts were somehow muted.

Dean pondered that for a while as Cas and Benny argued over their next move.

Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that their prey of choice was unavailable to them, but they didn’t seem to hunger the same way they would have on Earth. Which made it all the more dangerous for Dean. His humanity was a beacon to the monsters in this land. He was a fresh steak to a legion of starving men who didn’t even know they were hungry, and that made traveling dangerous. With Benny and Castiel by his side however, he felt safe for the first time in months. Even still, sometimes he caught Benny gazing over at him, hunger evident. But Benny hadn’t ever done anything about it.

Behind him, Benny and Castiel were hissing under their breath about the various possibilities with the human portal. Before he knew it, the conversation had dissolved into petty insults and he bit back a groan of frustration.

“Will you two just shut the fuck up?” he finally yelled, at his breaking point. He pushed up from the wall of the cave and stormed outside. He sat against the trunk of a massive oak to watch the sunlight fade from the sky, if only to avoid their arguments.

He used to do this all the time with Dad and Sam. Whenever they lit into each other, if he wasn’t getting in the middle of it to break them up, he’d just go out to the bar to hustle some pool or poker. Sometimes he would turn a trick for some extra cash or find a random woman to hook up with. He’d do anything, really, to avoid it.

But with those options unavailable to him at the moment, Dean settled for just escaping the tension filled cave.

He stared up at the deepening night. The sky was different here. There weren’t any stars in Purgatory. There wasn’t any moon or direct sunlight. It was as if the sky was a giant dome, reflecting the light but never showing its source.

He remembered a movie he half paid attention to on earth, where a group of kids was stuck in an arena and had to kill one another. The sky was a dome there too, and he’d come to think of Purgatory as a giant monster arena that he could never truly win.

He pulled out a whetstone he’d found lying in the banks of a stream a few months back and began to slowly sharpen his weapons.

He’d run out of ammo early on. Even still he kept his gun on him. Hidden away in a pocket he didn’t like to think about was one last bullet. He had kept it for emergencies, just in case he needed it.

He sharpened his knife methodically, even as night fell and his visibility dimmed. He knew immediately when he was no longer alone.

Castiel had joined him shortly after he finished his machete.

He sat down next to him against the tree. His shoulder was pressed against Dean’s and Dean found he didn’t mind the contact. It had been like this for a while between them.

Dean would touch Cas or vice versa and neither of them would pull away. Sometimes Dean would fall asleep on his back and wake up with his arms wrapped around Cas’ waist. He’d pull away, all gruff mannerisms and bravado, but Dean knew that he secretly craved the physical comfort that Cas could provide.

One night, shortly after Benny had saved Cas, Dean had fallen asleep nestled between Cas and Benny. At first he hadn’t been touching either of them, rather he’d had his jacket bunched up as a pillow as he lay on his side, arms crossed over his chest. But by the time he awoke, Dean’s arms were wrapped around Cas’ still body which he swore had moved closer, with Benny’s hand resting across his back, and their legs tangled. He couldn’t remember ever feeling safer.

It soon became a ritual he’d begun to look forward to. Dean would fall asleep alone, but inevitably during the night he’d gravitate towards his friend and his angel. While Benny had preferred to sleep during the day, over the months with Dean, he’d adapted until his sleep schedule was aligned with the hunter’s. It made traveling much easier.

Dean didn’t say anything to Cas and continued sharpening his knife.

“I’m sorry,” Castiel said, and Dean glanced over raising an eyebrow.

“For what?”

“I know you want Benny and I to get along, but the vampire is infuriating.”

Dean rolled his eyes.

“Whatever Cas. Do whatever you want, that doesn’t mean I have to listen to it.”

 “Dean,” Castiel’s hand came to rest upon Dean’s shoulder and he felt, as he always did when they touched, lightning shoot through him from the point of contact all the way to the tips of his fingers and toes. “I’m trying,”

“Yeah? Well try harder.” His voice was gruff. “I am sick of listening to you two fight. I’m sick of it.”

“I know, and we will.” Cas’ voice was quiet. “You should come inside,” he finally said.

“I’ll be there in a bit,” Dean said,  his dismissal evident.

“No, Dean, it’s getting late and the skinwalkers are close by. I want you to come inside.”

Dean rolled his eyes. “Fine,” he said finally. Cas stood and held out his hand. Dean glanced at it briefly before taking it and allowing Castiel to help him up.

They made their way inside the cave. Benny had started a fire. The smoke was drifting upwards to a crack in the ceiling that he hadn’t seen before and Dean was grateful for the warmth.

They all settled down for the night. There was still tension in the air but Dean could tell that they were both making an effort. Benny started telling them more about the rumors surrounding the whereabouts of the portal. He’d heard from a vampire who’d heard from a rawhead who’d heard from a skinwalker that it was somewhere to the east. And though they’d been traveling east for months, they hadn’t caught wind of it yet.

Dean listened as he bedded down, taking off his jacket and after glancing around at his surroundings, he even went so far as to remove his boots for the first night in ages.

His feet were aching from the fifteen miles they’d trekked that day and he nearly groaned when he turned his ankles this way and that, popping the sore joints and stretching his toes in his worn out socks. He rested his back against the cool wall of the cave watched as Castiel and Benny tentatively scratched out a map on the dirt floor.

Finally Benny yawned. He stretched his arms over his head and lay back, resting his shoulder against Dean’s thigh. Dean glanced down, his brow furrowed. This wasn’t the way things normally happened. Usually Dean would fall asleep and gradually find his way to them. But this time, Benny lay down, glancing up at Dean through his eyelashes as Dean looked down at him, his pulse suddenly jumping, as the vampire’s cool skin rested against the denim of his jeans.

As if by some silent cue, Castiel also lay down on Dean’s other side. Tentatively, he placed his arm over Dean’s knees until his hand rested in Benny’s hair.

Dean was confused, but then Castiel’s other hand started to trace circles against his thigh and he closed his eyes. It had been so long since someone had touched him in this way. Benny watched Cas’ movements and surprised him by reaching up and wrapping his big hand around Dean’s forearm.

Dean allowed himself to be pulled down to their level then, as they gave him the gentle touches he so craved in this dirty, violent bloody world he’d found himself in.

“I’m sorry,” Benny whispered in Dean’s ear as he pressed the gentlest of kisses to his temple. “We’re assholes,” he murmured. His hands started to roam over Dean’s stomach, which had grown hard and thin over the past few months, the soft pooch he’d started to get had faded away with the constant exercise and insufficient food available to him in this hellhole.

“You are,” Dean agreed, growing breathless. Cas pressed his forehead against the crook of Dean’s neck, and Dean felt something swell up in him from the pit of his stomach. It was warm, and frightening. They didn’t do anything else, and Dean didn’t know if he wanted them to or not, but as Benny’s fingers found his hair, and Cas’ legs tangled with his own, he felt the edges of desire creep away only to be replaced with sleepy content.

He closed his eyes and began to drift off to sleep. His breathing evened out and even though he was right on the edge of consciousness, he heard it when Benny and Cas started to quietly speak.

He didn’t give them any indication that he was still awake.

“Benny,” Cas whispered.

“What?” Dean heard him reply.

“Why did you save me?” he heard Cas ask. “I mean, it’s obvious we don’t get along, and you think I’m dead weight.”

Benny was silent for a long moment before finally answering.

“I didn’t do it for you,” he said. “I did it for him,”

Dean felt Benny’s fingers lace through his hair and for a moment his breath caught in his throat.

“I watched him pray for you for so long Cas that even I started to believe in you. I saw every side of him in those months before we found you, but I never truly understood his capacity for love until he hugged you on that riverside”

Cas twitched next to him. “I am not worthy of his love,” he whispered.

“Damn straight,” Benny replied. “That doesn’t change the fact that he loves you all the same.”

“Sometimes…” Castiel trailed off, before taking a deep breath and trying again. “Sometimes I’m in awe of his capacity to forgive, to love.”

“Me too, brother, me too.”

Benny pressed his body closer to Dean’s in that moment, and Cas did the same. He felt cocooned in their safety, unbelievable warmth on one side and coolness on the other, balancing him out for too often he’d felt out of sync with the rest of the world.

He knew he needed both of them to get to the portal, but he also logically knew that sooner or later he’d have to say goodbye to one of them. A part of him knew that Cas probably wouldn’t make it. They had argued until they were blue in the face about it, but deep down he knew he had to start letting him go. He had to stop needing him so much. Because when has needing anyone ever gotten him anywhere.

Instinctively, he pressed closer to Castiel, wrapping his arms around the angel. He felt Benny move with him, like a layer of protection against the hurt he knew was coming.

“I love him,” he heard Castiel whisper to Benny, “but I know that I cannot go through that portal. It would kill him.”

“I think he knows that too, but the damn sumbitch is too stubborn to admit it.”

Dean was right on the edge of sleep now, his heartbeat slowing. When he awoke later he knew he’d probably think this was all a dream. He should be worried about this conversation. He should be angry. He should be awake and yelling at both of them. But nestled between the angel and the vampire, he couldn’t bring himself to care about any of that right now.

They hadn’t even found the damn portal, yet. He had plenty of time to convince Cas to come with him. Especially now that he knew Cas cared as much as he did. With that thought he finally, blissfully drifted off to sleep.


End file.
